Image forming apparatus

ABSTRACT

A multifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) capable of voice guidance includes a voice output unit, a storage unit in which voice guidance data for voice guidance is stored, a control unit that performs control to output voice guidance from the voice output unit, and a communication unit that performs communication connection with an external apparatus. In a case where public announcement data that is transmitted from the external apparatus is received, public announcement based on the public announcement data is output from the voice output unit.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus such as acopier, a printer, or a facsimile, and particularly relates to an imageforming apparatus that has a voice guidance function.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional digital multifunction peripheral (hereinafter, referredto as a “multifunction peripheral”), which is an image forming apparatusthat includes an image forming unit, a scanner, and the like and has aplurality of functions, captures an original image that is input throughthe scanner as image data and performs image recording of the image datawith the image data stored in a memory, in accordance with a conditionset by a user, such as the number of copies, to complete a recordedmatter.

Among multifunction peripherals constituted in this manner, amultifunction peripheral that has a voice guidance function of givingexplanation by voice for explaining a state, an operation method, or thelike of the multifunction peripheral has been known recently.

As a related art, for example, it is disclosed that, in an image formingapparatus that has a voice guidance function, second voice guidance isexecuted by interruption while first voice guidance is executed (referto Japanese Patent No. 4415625).

As another example, it is disclosed that, in an image forming apparatusthat has a voice guidance function, a method of, when second voiceguidance is executed by interruption while first voice guidance isexecuted, resuming the first voice guidance after the second voiceguidance ends is provided (refer to Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication Publication No. 2004-258282).

According to the related arts described above, both Japanese Patent No.4415625 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.2004-258282 describe the voice guidance but do not mention announcementtransmitted from outside the apparatus, such as public announcement.

Accordingly, in order to give public announcement, for example, a voiceoutput device such as a speaker is to be separately installed and awiring work or the like is to be executed.

When being used in an office or the like, one or more multifunctionperipherals are placed in one room in many cases. Thus, when publicannouncement is given by utilizing a multifunction peripheral, thepublic announcement is able to be easily given without executing awiring work for the public announcement on a ceiling or the like.

It is desirable to provide an image forming apparatus capable ofoutputting voice with a simple configuration by using a voice outputunit of the image forming apparatus and outputting voice data fromoutside.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided an imageforming apparatus capable of voice guidance. The image forming apparatusincludes a voice output unit, a storage unit in which first voice datafor voice guidance is stored, a control unit that performs control tooutput first voice based on the first voice data from the voice outputunit, and a communication unit that performs communication connectionwith an outside. In a case where second voice data that is transmittedfrom the outside is received, second voice based on the second voicedata is output from the voice output unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of amultifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) according to a firstembodiment;

FIG. 2 is a table indicating identification information of themultifunction peripheral;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a processing process in which publicannouncement that is received by the multifunction peripheral is output;

FIG. 4 is a table indicating identification information of amultifunction peripheral of the second embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a processing process in which publicannouncement that is received by the multifunction peripheral is output;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of amultifunction peripheral according to a third embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a table indicating weighting of public announcement that istransmitted to the multifunction peripheral;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a processing process in which publicannouncement that is received by the multifunction peripheral is output;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of amultifunction peripheral according to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view illustrating an exemplary embodiment 1 ofa display screen related to voice data that is displayed in a displayunit of the multifunction peripheral;

FIG. 11 is an explanatory view illustrating an exemplary embodiment 2 ofa display screen related to voice data that is displayed in the displayunit;

FIG. 12 is an explanatory view illustrating an exemplary embodiment 3 ofa display screen related to voice data that is displayed in the displayunit;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory view illustrating an exemplary embodiment 4 ofa display screen related to voice data that is displayed in the displayunit; and

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view illustrating an example of aninterruption timing during voice guidance by a multifunction peripheralaccording to a fifth embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the disclosure will be described withreference to drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of amultifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) according to a firstembodiment of the disclosure, which is an example of an embodiment ofthe disclosure, and FIG. 2 is a table indicating identificationinformation of the multifunction peripheral.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, according to the first embodiment, amultifunction peripheral (image forming apparatus) 1 having a voiceguidance function includes a communication unit 6 that performscommunication connection with an external apparatus 20, and ischaracterized in that when public announcement data (second voice data)that is transmitted from the external apparatus 20 is received, publicannouncement (second voice) is output (reproduced) from a voice outputunit 5 included in the multifunction peripheral 1.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the multifunction peripheral 1 according tothe first embodiment has a configuration mainly including an operationpanel 2, an image forming unit 4, the voice output unit 5, thecommunication unit 6, a storage unit 8, and a control unit 9.

The operation panel 2 includes a display unit 21 on which an operationscreen is displayed or a touch operation is able to be performed.

On the basis of image data that is input, the image forming unit 4 formsan image to be output.

The voice output unit 5 is a speaker or the like from which voice isoutput. Here, voice guidance (first voice) is output from the voiceoutput unit 5.

The communication unit 6 has a configuration capable of communicationconnection with an outside. Here, the communication unit 6 is connectedwith a broadcasting apparatus as the external apparatus 20, whichperforms public announcement.

The storage unit 8 has a function as a working memory in which a resultof calculation or processing by a CPU (not illustrated) is temporarilystored and a function as a frame memory in which image data is stored.Then, the storage unit 8 stores image data that is input to theapparatus by a terminal computer or the like from the outside of theapparatus, image data of an original that is read through a scannerunit, or the like.

Moreover, in the first embodiment, the storage unit 8 includes a voiceguidance storage area 81 in which voice data (first voice data) of thevoice guidance (first voice) is stored, a public announcement storagearea 82 in which the public announcement data (second voice data)transmitted from the external apparatus 20 is stored, and anidentification information storage area 83 to identify a multifunctionperipheral.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, in the identification information storage area83, identification information 1 and 2 to identify whether themultifunction peripheral 1 is a high-speed machine or a standard machineby using an apparatus configuration as identification information arestored.

The control unit 9 controls action of the entire apparatus and alsocontrols an operation of the multifunction peripheral 1.

The control unit 9 has a voice output unit specifying unit 91 thatspecifies a voice output unit 5 from which the second voice is output.

When there are a plurality of multifunction peripherals 1 in a vicinityof the multifunction peripheral 1, the voice output unit specifying unit91 specifies from which voice output unit 5 of a multifunctionperipheral 1 the second voice is to be output. For example, the secondvoice may be output from a multifunction peripheral 1 not executing jobprocessing among the plurality of multifunction peripherals 1, or thesecond voice may be output from a standard machine in a case where thereare a high-speed machine and the standard machine among the plurality ofmultifunction peripherals 1.

Next, processing in which public announcement data is received by themultifunction peripheral 1 of the first embodiment and is output fromthe multifunction peripheral 1 will be described along a flowchart.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a processing process in which publicannouncement that is received by the multifunction peripheral accordingto the first embodiment is output.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, in a case where public announcement data isreceived by the multifunction peripheral 1 (step S101), whether or notthere are a plurality of multifunction peripherals 1 in the vicinity isdetermined by the control unit 9 (step S103).

In a case where it is determined at step S103 that there are theplurality of multifunction peripherals 1 in the vicinity, amultifunction peripheral 1 from which public announcement is output isspecified by the voice output unit specifying unit 91 (step S105).

At step S105, whether or not each of the multifunction peripherals 1 isa high-speed machine or a standard machine is determined on the basis ofidentification information of the multifunction peripheral 1, and in acase where the multifunction peripheral 1 is a standard machine, a voiceoutput unit 5 of the multifunction peripheral 1 that is the standardmachine is specified. Moreover, in a case where there are a plurality ofmultifunction peripherals 1 that are standard machines or in a casewhere there are only multifunction peripherals 1 that are high-speedmachines, a voice output unit 5 of a multifunction peripheral 1 notexecuting job processing is specified.

Then, the public announcement is output from the specified voice outputunit 5 of the multifunction peripheral 1 (step S107).

On the other hand, in a case where it is determined at step S103 thatthere are not a plurality of multifunction peripherals 1 in thevicinity, the public announcement is output from the voice output unit 5of the multifunction peripheral 1 (step S109).

In this manner, the public announcement is able to be output from thevoice output unit 5 of the multifunction peripheral 1.

With the configuration described above, the multifunction peripheral 1capable of voice guidance according to the first embodiment has aconfiguration including the communication unit 6 that performscommunication connection with the external apparatus 20, and has aconfiguration in which, when public announcement data transmitted fromthe external apparatus 20 is received, voice of public announcementbased on the public announcement data is output from the voice outputunit 5, making it possible to output the voice of the publicannouncement with a simple configuration without separately providing avoice output device.

Moreover, in the first embodiment, in a case where there are differentmultifunction peripherals 1 in the vicinity of a place where themultifunction peripheral 1 is installed, whether or not each of themultifunction peripherals 1 is a high-speed machine or a standardmachine is determined on the basis of the identification information ofthe multifunction peripheral 1, and when there is a multifunctionperipheral 1 that is a standard machine, a voice output unit 5 of themultifunction peripheral 1 that is the standard machine is caused togive public announcement, thus making it possible to easily hear thepublic announcement because sound from the standard machine is smallerthan that from the high-speed machine.

In the case where there are a plurality of multifunction peripherals 1that are standard machines or in the case where there are onlymultifunction peripherals 1 that are high-speed machines, the voiceoutput unit 5 of the multifunction peripheral 1 not executing jobprocessing is caused to give public announcement, thus making itpossible to hear the public announcement without difficulty in hearingthe public announcement due to job processing.

Note that, an output of the public announcement may be performeddirectly from the voice output unit 5 on the basis of the receivedpublic announcement data, or the public announcement data may betemporarily stored in the public announcement storage area 82 of thestorage unit 8 and the public announcement data may be called out fromthe storage unit 8 and output from the voice output unit 5.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to drawings.

Note that, for convenience of description, a configuration having thesame function as that of the first embodiment will be given the samereference sign, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 4 is a table indicating identification information of amultifunction peripheral of the second embodiment, and FIG. 5 is aflowchart of a processing process in which public announcement that isreceived by the multifunction peripheral is output.

The second embodiment is characterized in that an installation place isused as the identification information of the multifunction peripheral 1instead of using the apparatus configuration as the identificationinformation of the multifunction peripheral 1 as in the first embodimentand an output of the public announcement is restricted in accordancewith the installation place of the multifunction peripheral.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, as the identification information of themultifunction peripheral 1, identification information 11 and 12 toidentify, by using the installation place of the multifunctionperipheral 1 as the identification information, whether or not theinstallation place is a general region (e.g., an inside of a normaloffice or the like) which is not particularly specified or a specificregion (e.g., a conference room or the like) which is set in advance arestored.

Next, processing in which public announcement data is received by themultifunction peripheral 1 of the second embodiment and output from themultifunction peripheral 1 will be described along a flowchart.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, in a case where public announcement data isreceived by the multifunction peripheral 1 (step S201), whether or notthe multifunction peripheral 1 is installed in a specific region isdetermined by the control unit 9 (step S203).

In a case where it is determined at step S203 that the multifunctionperipheral 1 is installed in the specific region, the multifunctionperipheral 1 is not specified by the voice output unit specifying unit91 as the multifunction peripheral 1 from which public announcement isoutput, so that the public announcement is not given (step S205).

On the other hand, in a case where it is determined at step S203 thatthe multifunction peripheral 1 is not installed in the specific region,the public announcement is output from the voice output unit 5 of themultifunction peripheral 1 (step S207).

In this manner, the multifunction peripheral 1 from which the publicannouncement is output is able to be specified.

With the configuration described above, according to the secondembodiment, in the multifunction peripheral 1 capable of voice guidance,an installation place is used as the identification information of themultifunction peripheral 1 to identify whether the installation place isa general region (e.g., an inside of a normal office or the like) whichis not particularly specified or a specific region (e.g., a conferenceroom or the like) which is set in advance, so that whether or not togive public announcement is able to be set in accordance with the placewhere the multifunction peripheral 1 is installed.

Note that, in the second embodiment, whether the installation place ofthe multifunction peripheral 1 is a specific region or general region isused as the identification information, but additionally, themultifunction peripheral from which the public announcement is outputmay be set in detail in accordance with a plurality of installationplaces.

Third Embodiment

Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to drawings.

Note that, for convenience of description, a configuration having thesame function as that of the first embodiment will be given the samereference sign, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of amultifunction peripheral according to the third embodiment, FIG. 7 is atable indicating weighting of public announcement that is transmitted tothe multifunction peripheral, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a processingprocess in which the public announcement that is received by themultifunction peripheral is output.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, a multifunction peripheral 301 according tothe third embodiment is characterized in that, in addition to theconfiguration of the multifunction peripheral 1 according to the firstembodiment, a storage unit 308 includes a weighting storage area 84 inwhich weighting information is stored and a control unit 309 includes avoice output order setting unit 92, and determination of emergency andimportance is performed on the basis of the received public announcementdata, weighting of the public announcement data is performed on thebasis of a result of the determination, and an output order of voicedata to be output from the voice output unit 5 is set on the basis ofinformation of the weighting.

In the third embodiment, emergency and importance of the publicannouncement data are determined in accordance with a content of thepublic announcement data on the basis of, for example, a “weightingtable” illustrated in FIG. 7, and a weighting level is specified on thebasis of a result of the determination.

Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 7, weighting levels are set to, forexample, 5 stages of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 and weighting of the publicannouncement is determined.

In a case where the public announcement is announcement of radiogymnastics or the like, it is determined that a degree of the emergencyis “low” and a degree of the importance is “low”, so that the weightinglevel is “0”.

In a case where the public announcement is a call by an extension orannouncement with low emergency, it is determined that a degree of theemergency is “low” and a degree of the importance is “high”, so that theweighting level is “1”.

The weighting level of voice guidance is “2”.

In a case where the public announcement is a call by an outside line ora visitor, it is determined that a degree of the emergency is “high” anda degree of the importance is “low”, so that the weighting level is “3”.

In a case where the public announcement is announcement with highemergency, such as an earthquake early warning, a tsunami warning, or anevacuation advisory, it is determined that a degree of the emergency is“high” and a degree of the importance is “high”, so that the weightinglevel is “4”.

As described above, the order in which the public announcement datawhich is received by the multifunction peripheral 301 and whoseweighting level is determined is output from the voice output unit 5 isset by the voice output order setting unit 92 in accordance with theweighting level of the public announcement data.

Next, processing in which public announcement is received by themultifunction peripheral 301 of the third embodiment and output from themultifunction peripheral 301 will be described along a flowchart.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, voice guidance is output from themultifunction peripheral 301, (step S301). At this time, when publicannouncement data is received (step S303), whether or not the publicannouncement data has emergency or importance is determined by thecontrol unit 309 (step S305).

In a case where it is determined at step S305 that the publicannouncement data has emergency or importance, the public announcementis set by the voice output order setting unit 92 to be output prior tothe voice guidance (step S311). Then, the voice guidance is suspended(step S313) and the public announcement is output (step S315). Thesuspended voice guidance is output after the public announcement ends(step S317).

On the other hand, in a case where it is determined at step S305 thatthe public announcement data does not have emergency or importance, thevoice guidance is set by the voice output order setting unit 92 to beoutput prior to the public announcement (step S321). Then, the publicannouncement data is stored in the storage unit 308 (step S323). Thevoice guidance is continuously output (step S325). The stored publicannouncement is output after the voice guidance ends (step S327).

In this manner, in a case where the public announcement is receivedwhile the voice guidance is output (reproduced), the output is able tobe performed by changing an output state in accordance with theemergency or the importance of the public announcement.

With the configuration described above, according to the thirdembodiment, in the multifunction peripheral 301 capable of voiceguidance, the storage unit 308 includes the weighting storage area 84 inwhich the weighting information is stored, and the control unit 309includes the voice output order setting unit 92, so that weighting ofvoice data to be output is able to be performed on the basis of a resultof determination for emergency and importance of received publicannouncement data and the voice data is able to be output in order fromvoice data to be prioritized by setting an output order on the basis ofinformation of the weighting.

Fourth Embodiment

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described with reference to drawings.

Note that, for convenience of description, a configuration having thesame function as that of the first embodiment will be given the samereference sign, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of amultifunction peripheral according to a fourth embodiment, FIG. 10 is anexplanatory view illustrating an exemplary embodiment 1 of a displayscreen related to voice data that is displayed in a display unit of themultifunction peripheral, FIG. 11 is an explanatory view illustrating anexemplary embodiment 2 of a display screen related to voice data that isdisplayed in the display unit, FIG. 12 is an explanatory viewillustrating an exemplary embodiment 3 of a display screen related tovoice data that is displayed in the display unit, and FIG. 13 is anexplanatory view illustrating an exemplary embodiment 4 of a displayscreen related to voice data that is displayed in the display unit.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, a multifunction peripheral 401 according tothe fourth embodiment includes, in addition to the configuration of themultifunction peripheral 1 according to the first embodiment, a displaycontrol unit 93 as a configuration of a control unit 409, and ischaracterized in that when public announcement data is received, adisplay screen related to the public announcement data is displayed onthe display unit 21.

Exemplary Embodiment 1

In the exemplary embodiment 1, as illustrated in FIG. 10, when publicannouncement data is received, a display screen 121 that includes amessage 211 indicating “Voice data is being received. The voice data isbeing saved.” is displayed on the display unit 21.

Exemplary Embodiment 2

In the exemplary embodiment 2, as illustrated in FIG. 11, when thesaving of the public announcement data is completed, a display screen122 that includes a message 212 indicating “Voice data is received. Thevoice data is saved.” is displayed on the display unit 21.

Exemplary Embodiment 3

In the exemplary embodiment 3, as illustrated in FIG. 12, when thepublic announcement data is received, a pop-up screen 123 about aninstruction of reproduction of the voice data is displayed on thedisplay unit 21 in addition to the display screen 121 that includes themessage 211 indicating “Voice data is being received. The voice data isbeing saved.”.

In the pop-up screen 123, together with a message 213 indicating “Do youimmediately reproduce the voice data being saved?”, a software button221 in which “Reproduce immediately” is displayed and a software button222 in which “Reproduce after data being reproduced” is displayed aredisplayed.

Exemplary Embodiment 4

In the exemplary embodiment 4, as illustrated in FIG. 13, when a touchoperation of the software button 221 in which “Reproduce immediately” isdisplayed in the pop-up screen 123 illustrated in FIG. 12 is performed,a display screen 124 that includes a message 214 indicating “Receivedvoice data is being reproduced. Temporarily stopped voice data issaved.” is displayed on the display unit 21.

In the exemplary embodiment 4, in a case where the display screen 121 or122 related to reception of the voice data is displayed on the displayunit 21 as in the exemplary embodiment 1 or 2, by touching the displayscreen 121 or 122, the pop-up screen 123 of the exemplary embodiment 3is displayed, so that whether or not to immediately reproduce thereceived voice data (here, referred to as “public announcement data”)that is being saved is able to be selected.

In a case where the public announcement data is ready to be reproducedbefore the saving of the public announcement data is completed, thedisplay screen 122 of the exemplary embodiment 2 is not displayed.

Furthermore, the voice data (here, referred to as “voice guidance data”)that is previously reproduced is also temporarily stopped while thepop-up screen 123 of the exemplary embodiment 3 is displayed.

When the software button 221 of “Reproduce immediately” in the pop-upscreen 123 is touched, “public announcement data” that is determined tohave a low degree of priority and is thus saved is given. Then, thepop-up screen 123 is deleted to be switched to the display screen 124 ofthe exemplary embodiment 4.

At this time, by pressing the software button 221 of “Reproduceimmediately”, the weighting level of the “public announcement data” isreplaced with “4 (maximum value)”, and the weighting level of the “voiceguidance data” is replaced with “[original weighting level]−1”.

Moreover, in a case where the soft button 222 of “Reproduce after databeing reproduced” is touched in the pop-up screen 123 of the exemplaryembodiment 3, the pop-up screen 123 is deleted to be returned to thedisplay screen 121 or the display screen 122, and the “voice guidancedata” is sequentially reproduced. At this time, there is no change in avalue of the weighting level.

When the display screen 124 of the exemplary embodiment 4 is touched,the display screen is returned to the pop-up screen 123 of the exemplaryembodiment 3, and when the software button 221 of “Reproduceimmediately” is touched, reproduction of the “voice guidance data” isresumed. At this time, the weighting level of the “public announcementdata” is replaced with “3 (4 [maximum value]−1) and the weighting levelof the “voice guidance data” is replaced with “4 (maximum value)”. Inthis manner, by changing a reproduction state of the voice data to bereproduced, the weighting level of the voice data is able to be changed.

With the configuration described above, the multifunction peripheral 401of the exemplary embodiment 4 includes the display control unit 93 as aconfiguration of the control unit 409, and when public announcement datais received, the display screen related to the public announcement datais displayed on the display unit 21, thus making it possible to visuallynotify a user of reception of public announcement. Then, by changing thereproduction state of the voice data to be reproduced, the weightinglevel of the voice data is able to be changed.

Fifth Embodiment

Next, a fifth embodiment will be described with reference to a drawing.

Note that, for convenience of description, a configuration having thesame function as that of the first embodiment will be given the samereference sign, and description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory view illustrating an example of aninterruption timing during voice guidance by a multifunction peripheralaccording to the fifth embodiment.

The fifth embodiment is characterized in that, in the multifunctionperipheral 1, in a case where public announcement that is transmitted isoutput by suspending voice guidance while the voice guidance is output,when voice guidance data allows determination of a pause of the voiceguidance, the output of the voice guidance is resumed by performing theoutput from a pause immediately before the pause at which the voiceguidance is suspended.

Specifically, in a case where an original sentence of the voice guidanceis, for example, “ABCD, EFG. HIJK, LMN.” as illustrated in FIG. 14 and asentence that is reproduced before the interruption by the publicannouncement due to the voice guidance being suspended to give thepublic announcement is “ABCD, EFG. HI (suspended here)”, control isperformed so that a sentence to be reproduced after the interruption bythe public announcement ends is “HIJK, LMN.”.

With the configuration described above, according to the fifthembodiment, in the multifunction peripheral 1, even in the case wherepublic announcement is given by interruption while voice guidance isoutput, and the voice guidance is suspended in a middle of a sentencethereof, when voice guidance data allows determination of a pause of thevoice guidance, the output of the voice guidance is resumed byperforming the output from a pause immediately before the pause at whichthe voice guidance is suspended, thus making it possible to accuratelyinform a content of the voice guidance.

As described above, the disclosure is not limited to each of theembodiments described above, and may be modified in various mannerswithin the scope of the claims. A skilled in the art could obviouslyconceive various modified examples or correction examples within thescope of the claims, that is, an embodiment achieved by combiningtechniques which are appropriately modified within a range not departedfrom the gist of the disclosure is also encompassed in the technicalscope of the disclosure.

The present disclosure contains subject matter related to that disclosedin Japanese Priority Patent Application JP 2018-062169 filed in theJapan Patent Office on Mar. 28, 2018, the entire contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that variousmodifications, combinations, sub-combinations and alterations may occurdepending on design requirements and other factors insofar as they arewithin the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. An image forming apparatus capable of voiceguidance, the image forming apparatus comprising: voice outputcircuitry; a memory in which first voice data for voice guidance isstored; a control circuitry that performs control to output first voicebased on the first voice data from the voice output circuitry; andcommunication circuitry that performs communication connection with anexternal apparatus, wherein in a case where second voice data that istransmitted from the external apparatus is received, second voice basedon the second voice data is output from the voice output circuitry. 2.The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in a casewhere there are a plurality of the image forming apparatuses each ofwhich includes the voice output circuitry and which are adjacent to eachother, the second voice is output from an image forming apparatus thatis specified.
 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,wherein an output of the second voice is restricted in accordance withan installation place of the image forming apparatus that includes thevoice output circuitry.
 4. The image forming apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein the second voice data is stored, and whether to includeat least emergency or importance is determined on a basis of the secondvoice data, and weighting of the second voice data is performed on abasis of a result of the determination.
 5. The image forming apparatusaccording to claim 4, wherein an output order of voice data to be outputfrom the voice output circuitry is set on a basis of information of theweighting of the second voice data.
 6. The image forming apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising a display device, wherein in acase where the second voice data is received, a display screen relatedto the second voice data is displayed in the display device.
 7. Theimage forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein in a case wherethe second voice is output by suspending the first voice while the firstvoice is output, when the first voice data allows determination of apause of the first voice, an output of the first voice is resumed byperforming the output from a pause immediately before a pause at whichthe first voice data is suspended.